Virginia Rometty and the Case for Progressive Social Policies

When Sam Palmisano, CEO of IBM announced that Virginia Rometty’s would succeed him as CEO he is reported to have said, “Ginni got it because she deserved it. It’s got zero to do with progressive social policies.”

I believe he meant to imply that Ginni Rommety earned her new position by virtue of her outstanding performance and that she wasn’t appointed as a token women (imagine a F500 board going along with such a preposterous recommendation). As well intentioned as his praise was, the statement itself indicates that Sam might need some progressive social thinking. When was the last time you heard a F500 CEO described as getting the position, “because he deserved it.”

Anyway, his message, while laudatory of Ginni, was technically inaccurate.  The very reasons she was able to earn her new position were because of progressive social policies.

For example, when it was founded in 1850, her alma mater Northwestern where she studied computer science and engineering in the late 70s had an all male student body. It was through the progressive social policies 19 years later that women were accepted “under the same terms and conditions as men.”

IBM is proud to tout on its website that the first professional women were hired by the company in the 1930s. But that effort didn’t shift the culture enough that IBM could hold itself as a paragon of women’s advancement. In the 1970s (about the time Ginni joined), as a result of the progressive pressures of the feminist movement, IBM launched its first women’s programs – and they continue today.

Alan Greenspan wrote in his autobiography that he loved to hire women because he could pay them less and their work was exemplary. If Ginni Rometty earned the equivalent of her male counterparts during her career at IBM, it was because of the progressive social concept of pay equity and the Equal Pay Act that became the law in the U.S. in 1963.

Ginni and her husband Mark have no children. I do not know whether this is by choice, so let’s have her stand in as an example of any woman and her partner. Progressive social policies about family planning make the decision about if and when to have children a choice for all of us.

So, to Sam Palmisano and all the women and men who believe that progressive social policies are irrelevant to women like Ginni advancing to top levels of corporations, I say, it’s not an either/or proposition. 

Progressive social policies have gotten women in the door. They have given us a chance to prove ourselves and to earn top spots. Progressive social policies and the women and men who fought for them deserve our thanks, not our dismissal.

Lead ON!
Susan
Susan Colantuono is CEO of Leading Women and author of No Ceiling, No Walls.
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Mother's Day Proclamation - Work/Life Debate Should be SOOOO Over

Enough already! The question has been answered. Yes, Virginia, a woman can be a mother and have a successful career.

So, on Mother's Day 2011, let's finally put the debate to bed.

Need proof? Of the F500 women CEOs past, present and announced, nearly every one of them has been a mother/stepmother - and often to 2 or more children.

In honor of these virtual mentors from whom we can learn so much, let's learn once and for all that work and motherhood are not mutually exclusive. Thank you:

• Brenda Barnes, retired Sara Lee
• Carol Bartz, Yahoo!
• Angela Braly, Wellpoint
• Ursula Burns, Xerox
• Carly Fiorina, retired HP
• Christina Gold, Western Union
• Susan Ivey, retired Reynolds
• Andrea Jung, Avon
• Ellen Kullman, Dupont
• Carol Meyrowitz, TJX
• Christine Morrison, announced Campbell's
• Anne Mulcahy, retired Xerox
• Indra Nooyi, PepsiCo
• Irene Rosenfeld, Kraft
• Mary Sammons, retired RiteAid
• Laura Sen, BJs
• Meg Whitman, retired eBay
• Patricia Woertz, Archer Daniels Midland

Apologies to Lynn Elsenhans, CEO Sunoco if she has children.  Online research turned up no references to any.

UPDATED 6/6: Financial News has a story about Helena Morrissey, head of Newton:

"ranked the Most Influential Woman in Asset Management at the Financial News Awards for Excellence in Institutional Asset Management Europe 2010, had a family of five when she took the job and has had four more children since her appointment."

To see what else we're keeping our eye on these days, check us out on Facebook.

Lead ON!
Susan
Susan Colantuono is CEO of Leading Women and author of No Ceiling, No Walls.
Follow her on Twitter |  LittlePinkBook  |  Facebook  |  LinkedInGroup |  LinkedIn

Two Fewer F500 Women CEOs

This summer Mary Sammons, resigned as CEO of RiteAid.

This morning I read of Brenda Barnes' resignation as CEO of Sara Lee to focus on her health after suffering a stroke earlier in the year.

For the past few years, I've been able to post photos of the 15 women F500 CEOs, whom I call "your virtual mentors" in my book No Ceiling, No Walls. The important message they convey comes through their wide ranging diversity. They come from different backgrounds and lead with different styles.

It's doubtful that we'll get back up to 15 any time soon (although I hope I'm proved wrong).

Lead ON!
Susan
Susan Colantuono is CEO of Leading Women and author of No Ceiling, No Walls. She blogs on networking for PINK Magazine. Follow her on Twitter.

Synapses Firing at Random

I use this image not only because this blog includes several disconnected thoughts, but also because The Female Brain is an intriguing, important and useful book.

What's With the Movies?
In the past several weeks I've watched 4 movies - 3 about amazing women (Coco Before Chanel, Catherine the Great, Young Victoria) and one about an amazing man (Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius). I've noticed something disturbing.

The 3 movies about fashionista Coco Chanel, Russia's Empress Catherine and Britain's Queen Victoria, start in their youth and END right before the women step onto the path to historic significance. We who would love to know more about the path to great accomplishments are absolutely left in the dark (although the paths to great love are well illumined).

Not true in the movie about golfing legend Bobby Jones. We meet him as a sickly young boy and follow him through the triumphs of winning major tournaments.

In these cases, Hollywood has shied away from shining light on the women's paths to greatness. This isn't an accident, nor is it an exception to the rule. Movie messages to women are most often about being sexy and finding love - nothing wrong with that, except that it's incomplete.

AND this leads me to wonder why Malcolm Gladwell is blind to one of the most important and obvious factors in the creation of Outliers...

The Blind Spot in Outliers
The major premise in Outliers: The Story of Success (with which I agree) is that external factors play a huge role in an individual's rise to greatness. Gladwell uses many professions to illustrate why this is true. He explores the role of birth month, culture, generation, family background, economic status in producing successful sports figures, authors and pilots. What's missing?

Nearly all of the examples he cites are men and yet the factor of being born male is not stripped out for examination.

Thank You Mary Sammons
In June, Mary Sammons will step down as CEO of RiteAid. In my book, No Ceiling, No Walls and in my presentations on mentoring I use several lessons from her path to the C-suite.

Thank you, Mary for the lessons you're leaving for women who want to build careers with no ceilings and no walls.

Lead ON!
Susan
Susan Colantuono is CEO of Leading Women and author of No Ceiling, No Walls. She blogs on networking for PINK Magazine. Follow her on Twitter.

Newsweek's Shame and FORTUNE's Fame

On the one hand, Newsweek paints powerful, ambitious and successful women as "bitches". It has chosen 11 of the most powerful women who are also noted for not being so very nice. As a matter of fact, they pitch "11 Powerful Women Who Make Men--and Other Women--Squirm."

Have they ever described powerful men as those who make women and other men squirm? Not likely!

On the other hand Newsweek tells us that we are our own glass ceiling and advises that if we want to get ahead we have to stop being the "good girl". This is actually a very good article and I recommend that you read it. Love this point made by the author, Jessica Bennett:

"Part of (women's inability to self-promote) comes from a lifetime of mixed messages about what it means to be strong. We've grown up watching the Hillary Clintons of the world vilified for being pushy, while our soft-spoken colleagues struggle to rise up the corporate ladder. Society, pop culture and the media all encourage us to be tough but sexy in the process. In a way, we're hybrids of the 1950s woman, who was forced to conform, the 1970s woman who refused to, with a bit of 21st-century porn culture thrown in. We live with outdated expectations about what's acceptable, while pressuring ourselves to achieve it all."

Don't they see how they're playing into the nation's ambivalence about women? Shame on that 11 powerful women feature.

On the other hand, I eagerly wait for FORTUNE's 50 Most Powerful Women every year. Among this year's list are the F500 women CEOs (all of whom act as virtual mentors in my new book).

Lead ON!
Susan
Susan Colantuono is CEO of Leading Women and author of No Ceiling, No Walls (Dec 2009). She blogs on networking for PINK Magazine. Follow her on Twitter.

ForbesWoman

When the WSJ launched JournalWomen, I cyber-met its editor, Francesca Donner. We corresponded, I enjoyed and supported the place she created to celebrate women in business.

On Wednesday, I received an email from Twitter saying that I was being followed by @ForbesWoman. Lo and behold I discovered that behind @ForbesWoman is none other than Francesca. No wonder I touted the launch in my April 21 post.


Today ForbesWoman is reporting on Thursday's announcement of Anne Mulcahy's step-down from the CEO position at Xerox and Ursula Burns ascendancy into the position. The transition, planned for July 1, is the first woman-to-woman hand-off of a Fortune 500 CEO position and Ursula is the first African-American woman CEO. Congratulations Ursula and thank you Anne for the role model you've been. (Check out Anne's answer about "10 Minutes that Matter" in her life here.)

When you visit ForbesWoman you'll find that it features articles in a number of categories including:

• Leadership
• Power Women
• Net Worth
• Family
  

Offering "tools to succeed for professional and executive women" Francesca is creating one of the few places on the internet where business women are taken seriously - and are given resources for leading in what I call a "whole life" context. I hope you'll visit, sign up for updates and visit often: ForbesWoman

Lead ON!
Susan
Susan Colantuono is CEO of Leading Women. She blogs on networking for PINK Magazine. Follow her on Twitter.

F500 Women CEOs Earnings News

It was a profit, albeit a small one (2%), that Patricia Woertz, CEO reported for Archer Daniels Midland's third quarter. Reported by Tess Stynes @ the WSJ

Irene Rosenfeld, CEO of Kraft (pictured above) reported a 10% jump in profit. Details reported by Kerry E. Grace of the WSJ:

"...Organic revenue, which excludes divestitures, acquisitions and the impact of foreign-currency fluctuations, rose 2.3% on higher prices. The company said it had better-than-expected volume and mix but didn't provide a total figure.

Gross margin rose to 34.7% from 32.9%.

North American profit was up 16% as organic revenue increased 1.3%, led by sales growth in the company's convenience meals. In Europe, organic sales fell 3.3% on unfavorable volume and mix. In developing markets, organic sales rose 12% on solid gains in each region. Latin America was helped by higher prices and strength in powdered beverages, while Asia Pacific grew on gains in several key brands..."

Lead ON!
Susan
Susan Colantuono is CEO of Leading Women. She blogs on networking for PINK Magazine. Follow her on Twitter.

PS Thanks to @WSJ for the headline tweets.